Chapter 13
KYRA
Nyx and I have been home for a week. It’s been a week of adjustments.
Cal has been sleeping on the floor in my room.
I felt bad for him sleeping in the hallway.
Don’t ask me what the difference is between the floor in the hallway and the floor in my room.
Minus the door between us and the rug that covers most of the floor here.
I can’t imagine that rug adds that much extra comfort to the floor.
He hasn’t climbed into my bed again since the night I asked him to stay.
I would be lying to say I didn’t want to ask him to cuddle with me every single night he tucks me in, but I know I can’t cross that line again.
His presence comforts me in a terrifying way.
Considering Mike doesn’t even comfort me like this.
Just Callum being in my room helps me sleep, knowing that no one will get through him to me.
Fuck! Mike! Did anyone tell him what was going on? Has anyone informed him that we are back? Does he care?
Exiting the bedroom I have holed up in for the majority of our time back, I walk down to Graham and Demitri’s home office.
The door is open, and before crossing the threshold, I take a deep breath.
I know that this isn’t going to be easy to hear, but if Mike cared, he would have been here a long time ago.
“Knock, knock.” My voice is much too quiet for me, but both of their heads come up from Graham’s computer screen.
“Hey, Ky.” Graham’s warm smile greets me. He looks so much like Callum. Or I guess I should say that Cal looks so much like him since Cal is the younger brother.
His blonde hair is a little shaggier than previously, but his blue eyes look like they could freeze the earth very easily. Demitri is the opposite of Graham and Cal. He is the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome.
“What can we do for you?” Demitri asks.
“So I was just thinking…” My voice trails off, and I have to take another deep breath to center myself. “HasanyonetoldmikeIwasmissing?” The words spill out of me in one long word. No breaks, no spaces, no time for me to think before I just spit it out.
I enter their office fully and take a quick seat in one of the chairs opposite their desks.
“Yes,” Demitri answers quickly with no nonsense.
“And?” My head leans into them, while my eyebrows climb their way into my hairline. Waiting for the shoe to drop.
He really doesn’t care. He probably wouldn’t have even reported me missing.
“Kyra…” Graham’s soft smile takes on a sadness that I was not prepared for. “We went to visit him, with Captain Montegomery, a few days after you guys were taken.”
“I punched him.” Demitri blurts out, and my eyes bug out of my head.
“You did what?” I need to hear him say it again.
”First of all, he started by talking badly about Nyx, and I wasn’t going to stand by and allow that.
Second of all, he showed zero fucks about the fact that his own Fiancé was kidnapped.
He thought that Nyx took off with you to convince you to leave him, but if I am being honest, his behavior is enough reason to leave him if you ask me.
” Demitri tries to explain himself, as if I would be mad at him.
“Dee…Can I call you Dee?”
“Of course.”
”Ok, Dee.” I smile at him, a warmth filling my chest because I think Nyx and I have finally found a place to belong. “You do not have to explain yourself to me about hitting Mike. I was hoping that he would have reacted differently, but obviously I was wrong.”
“Hey, Sunshine. What are you doing here?” Cal’s voice fills the space, and I turn around to see him standing in the doorway.
“I came in here to talk to them to see if anyone had talked to Mike. See if he even cared that I was gone. Dee was just telling me about how he punched him.” I laughed at that statement.
“Oh, that winner.” Cal rolls his eyes and takes the seat next to me. ”Sunshine, I will support whatever decision you make, but I really don't think you should run back to him with any grand ideas of love. He really didn’t even seem phased that you had been kidnapped.”
Cal’s hand rests on my knee, completely innocent. Just enough contact to offer emotional support, but not enough to feel like he is trying to make me uncomfortable. I can feel the heat radiating off his skin, sending chills through my body.
“I will have to eventually go home…” I can feel the defeat already settling in my bones.
“Why?” All three men in the room question simultaneously.
“I can’t live here forever…and I don’t know if I could even afford to get my own apartment.”
“You can stay here as long as you need or want to, Kyra. You are Nyx’s best friend; you are our family.
We do not believe that blood is the only thing that makes families.
We get to pick who we let into this Devil Dog Family, and you are in this family.
Like it or not.” Graham’s words cause a smile to force its way across my face.
“If you want your own space, so you don’t feel like you are up in everyone’s shit, I will move into the house, and you can have the guest house, Sunshine,” Cal says, with such a matter-of-fact tone that I am just staring at him.
”Why would you do that?” I need to know why he would be willing to give up his space for me.
“Well, ideally, you would just move into the guest house with me, but I will not force you into my space. Not only that, but I have lived with these two before, so this will be nothing new. You won’t feel like you are invading their home, and you can still have girl time with Nyx.”
“I am not living with you, Callum.” I cannot jump from one man’s bed into another. That would not do me any good.
“And that is why I will move my things in here this afternoon, and we will move you into the guest house.
With that, Cal stands up, nodding his head at Demitri and Graham before he leaves the room. I can hear him walk down the stairs and exit the house.
“Well, I guess that solves that. Go pack your things. When you are ready to go grab things from the trailer, just ask. Someone will take you, you will not go alone.” Demitri says with such a matter-of-fact tone so I can’t argue with him.
Leaving the office, I head back down to the guest bedroom.
I don’t have much to pack, seeing as all my belongings are still at the trailer with Mike.
This is just a few things they went out and bought when we were rescued.
Looking in the drawer, there is a ratty old high school football shirt.
Recognizing it as Cal’s, I pick it up and bring it to my nose.
Hoping to still be able to get a whiff of him, but unfortunately, all I smell is the fresh laundry detergent Nyx uses.
I throw it in my bag and head for the en-suit.